Michael & Mia: An Adventure in the Positive Cycle of Nature

By George Hohbach, Ehrengard Hohbach and Marcano Scott

Illustrated Middle Grade Novel (inside the paperback: colored illustrations only in the German-language market; other territories: illustrations in black and white)

On a surprise-packed voyage of discovery through the solar system and on planet earth, Michael and Mia, two curious chemistry fans, make a groundbreaking and amazing discovery: uncovering how humankind can maximally benefit from the ingenious circulatory system of nature. Ultimately the two joyfully and excitedly realize that both the present and the future of humankind and planet Earth can now be shaped positively-and by the next day, the whole world knows about it.

Get to know the groundbreaking Cradle to Cradle design concept and its co-founder, the chemist Michael Braungart, based on an exciting adventure story plus an extra section with background information including the theme song Nature Lives as sheet music.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: May 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9783751925105

George Hohbach

George Hohbach is the author of the Einstein Superstar Code trilogy. He has also co-authored several illustrated action-comedy novels for the younger demographic inspired by the eco-intelligent Cradle to Cradle design principle and the Circular Economy. In addition, George Hohbach has composed several pop songs pertaining to the novels.

Book preview

PART 1

Michael & Mia

An Adventure in the Positive Cycle of Nature

CHAPTER 1

MICHAEL MEETS MIA

-Magic in the Air-

OK, you guys, listen up. I have come up with 10 topics for the school project due in three weeks. We’ll have teams of two students and each team will be assigned a topic for a presentation. So, let’s first pick names out of this golden bowl here on my desk to see who will be together as a team.

Michael didn’t listen closely any longer to what his teacher, Mrs. Friday, continued to say. Instead, Michael was looking over to Mia, his pretty new classmate. Being in a team with her would be freaking awesome! Instantly, Michael’s heart started to beat faster, and in that second, Mia turned around and smiled at him. OMG! Now, Michael’s heart almost stopped beating, because Mia kept glancing and smiling at him! But on top of that, it seemed like all his fellow students were grinning at him too. This was kinda strange. What on earth was going on?!

Michael! Michael! He suddenly became aware of Mrs. Friday, who seemingly out of nowhere had appeared right next to his desk.

Yes, Michael said, not knowing why Mrs. Friday had approached him.

Could you please answer my question, young man. Are you okay with opening the school project presentations together with Mia?! This opening presentation will get extra time and be much longer than the others. Mia already said `Yes´. So, what about you?!

Michael couldn’t believe his ears. He was so nervous that he just couldn’t find his voice. It was gone, totally gone. It must have taken off and hidden itself on the dark side of the moon, or gotten sucked into a black hole and spit out in some strange, whacked-out place outside the Milky Way! The force was definitely not with him.

Michael! he heard his English teacher again. Since he couldn’t speak at the moment, he kept his mouth closed—as this seemed to be the next best thing to do—and just smiled and nodded affirmatively, like Mia did.

Their eyes met like never before. Time seemed to have come to a complete halt. In a flash, Michael saw Mia and himself in a bright shining vision: With an unexpected boost of infinitely abundant and radiating energy, incredible images came flooding into his mind’s eye for a split second. Suddenly, all around them were sparkling, colorful stars. At the bottom of the image, Michael could read in intensely shining letters:

TEAM MICHAEL & MIA

Now, he could sense a powerful and yet totally balanced force spiraling through his entire body. It was so EPIC!

Are you OK? the teacher asked.

Never better, Michael replied as he snapped out of his temporary vision. Great things are possible.

After English class was over, Mia walked over to Michael, who tried to act as cool and normal as possible—which resulted in him inadvertently pushing his books off the desk.

So, we’ll be partners, she said.

Yep, said Michael as he quickly picked up his books and managed to hit his elbow against the chair during the process. Ouch!

Yeah, um, what do you think about the topic we were assigned? Mia asked.

Well…, Michael murmured before pausing, because he had not actually listened when Mrs. Friday had announced their topic. I guess, it’s interesting for the entire class, he said slightly nervously, trying to talk his way out of the situation.

Guess, so, too, Mia said, we’ll definitely make it interesting. I’m so glad we don’t have to give a talk about the waste problem of the 21st century, by the way. I mean, what are you gonna say about that. All the toxic waste everywhere. That’s so not inspiring.

Tough topic, Michael agreed, trying hard to sound cool and not trip over anything while leaving the classroom with Mia.

Seriously, Mia continued, this waste problem…waste on all levels of the oceans, in the air, in the soil, water, in our clothes. What are we gonna do about it?

You’d need a pretty dope idea to fix that, Michael added.

And then, suddenly, it was like Michael and Mia could fly through the air. Nobody noticed, but the two hovered through the hallway, then flew right through their green, metal lockers and the thick brick wall of the high school building and landed gently in front of the countless yellow school busses waiting outside.

What the heck was that? Michael thought with total amazement.

Mia looked very surprised, too. Did we just fly through the wall down from 3rd floor to the parking lot? she asked cautiously, as if she doubted her own words.

I-I don’t think that this is possible, Michael replied, actually for many reasons, like logic or even reality. Although…I just asked myself the same question to be honest. And this is so freaking weird!

Mia laughed. We probably got so carried away babbling with each other that we didn’t notice that we walked down the stairs and exited the school, like normal people.

Right, right, Michael confirmed. That’s what normal people do. Absolutely. Perfectly usual, everyday-just-walking-down-the-stairs-and-through-the-doors-kinda stuff. Simple. Fine. Alright.

Okay then, Mia said, I’ll, um, uh, stop by your house later this afternoon so we can start working on our presentation. If we nail it, our topic `The Balance of Nature´ will be a presentation to remember.

We sure will! Michael was super relieved that Mia had just filled him in on the topic which Mrs. Friday had assigned to them.

With a fist bump, they said goodbye. Michael got on his bus. He smiled. He felt great. Suddenly, a marvelous and wonderful magic had entered his life.

For the next three weeks, Michael and Mia met after school several times a week and on weekends. They had a lot of fun together researching the topic of Nature’s Balance. For countless hours, they read as many books as possible, looked up articles on the internet, watched videos on TV and on YouTube, talked and skyped with scientists and frequently exchanged ideas via their smartphones. However, the whole time, very strange things kept happening.

Mia, for instance, texted Michael while shopping at the mall, and she ended up buying deep sea fishing equipment instead of orange juice.

One time, Michael was talking with Mia on the phone, when suddenly he found himself in the middle of a crowded, busy football field—30 miles away from his village. A furious referee stood next to him, heavily blowing into his whistle and yelling:

How can one not hear that?!

Maybe you have a hearing problem, Michael answered politely, and while crawling his way through an intricate cheerleader dance formation, he continued chatting with Mia and started heading back home. As he went, he walked across a busy runway